Today in History - Sunday, May 30, 2010

Today is Sunday, May 30, the 150th day of 2010. There are 215 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On May 30, 1922, the Lincoln Memorial was dedicated in Washington in a ceremony attended by President Warren G. Harding, Chief Justice William Howard Taft and Robert Todd Lincoln.

On this date:

In 1431, Joan of Arc, condemned as a heretic, was burned at the stake in Rouen (roo-AHN'), France.

In 1854, the territories of Nebraska and Kansas were established.

In 1883, 12 people were trampled to death when a rumor that the recently opened Brooklyn Bridge was in imminent danger of collapsing triggered a stampede.

In 1911, Indianapolis saw its first long-distance auto race; Ray Harroun was the winner.

In 1937, ten people were killed when police fired on steelworkers demonstrating near the Republic Steel plant in South Chicago.

In 1943, American forces secured the Aleutian island of Attu from the Japanese during World War II.

In 1958, unidentified American service members killed in World War II and the Korean War were interred in the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery.

In 1960, Soviet author and poet Boris Pasternak ("Doctor Zhivago") died at 70.

In 1971, the American space probe Mariner 9 blasted off from Cape Kennedy, Fla. on a journey to Mars.

In 1980, Pope John Paul II arrived in France on the first visit there by the head of the Roman Catholic Church since the early 19th century.

Ten years ago: President Bill Clinton arrived in Portugal as he opened a week-long visit to Europe. Former Pennsylvania Gov. Robert P. Casey died in Scranton at 68. Gordon "Tex" Beneke, a singer and sax player with the Glenn Miller Orchestra, died in Costa Mesa, Calif. at 86.

Five years ago: Quoting letters of the fallen from the war in Iraq, President George W. Bush vowed to a Memorial Day audience at Arlington National Cemetery that America would honor its dead by striving for peace and democracy, no matter the cost. American teenager Natalee Holloway, during a visit to Aruba, was last seen leaving a bar with three young men before disappearing; her fate remains unknown. Officials in Lebanon announced that Saad Hariri (sahd hah-REER'-ee), the son of assassinated former premier Rafik Hariri (rah-FEEK' hah-REER'-ee), had swept parliamentary elections in Beirut.

One year ago: Prince Harry followed in the footsteps of his late mother, Princess Diana, as he raised money for an AIDS charity by playing in a polo match on Governors Island in New York Harbor. Internet sensation Susan Boyle placed second on "Britain's Got Talent," with dance troupe Diversity taking the top prize.

Thought for Today: "There is a Law that man should love his neighbor as himself. In a few hundred years it should be as natural to mankind as breathing or the upright gait; but if he does not learn it he must perish." [EM] Alfred Alder, Austrian psychoanalyst (1870-1937).